The V8 Owners Forum -

Hi guys following on from my other posts I'm interested to know what to do regards my engine.
Firstly a bit of back ground, I bought it off eBay as a land rover recon engine cost me £1600.
Here's some pics of the problems I've found so far







So I contacted the dealer and told them the problems, they offered a set of bearings head set etc, but I'm not sure if I'd ever trust the engine bearing in mind if I put it in and it was porous I'd then have no comeback. Also the I think the crank would need sorting?? So I emailed them back asking for a refund or replacement and they offered a refund which then leaves me with no engine to build, question is do you think I'm being too much of a worrier?

Ps the head shot shows one head with no stem seals fitted!

""So I contacted the dealer and told them the problems, they offered a set of bearings head set etc, but I'm not sure if I'd ever trust the engine bearing in mind if I put it in and it was porous I'd then have no comeback. Also the I think the crank would need sorting?? So I emailed them back asking for a refund or replacement and they offered a refund which then leaves me with no engine to build, question is do you think I'm being too much of a worrier?

Ps the head shot shows one head with no stem seals fitted!""


Is this supposed to be a recon engine that has never run??

The valve guides you have are for the rubber washer seals which you are better off not having as they end up in the sump after a while anyway. Are they new valve guides??

You can get push on cap seals to fit those anyway so no biggie really.

The engine has been assembled in dirty conditions or the engine was not properly cleaned for assembly.

My main concern is the top of the liners. In the photo they look like they have no taper? Has the block been heavily decked??

If they have offered a full £1600 refund I'd take it if you have no guarantee of the block being sound...

Is this a 3500??

For 1600 notes I'm sure you can find a known good block that isnt porous for not a lot of money and then spend the rest of the £1600 doing it up yourself.

Hi mate thanks for the reply.

Yeah it was sold as a new factory recon 4.0 p38 engine, I've since found the company on the web that look like they did it, and they say they spin it over to check oil pressure.

Re the valve seals, the other head has the blue type ones on, so have I got two different heads?

I think there is a taper though I'm gonna check as someone else mentioned it looked like a liner had dropped though I never noticed that when I stripped it.

That's what worries me about the block, I'm pretty sure the valves have just been cleaned too as one i took out shows a bit of black on it.

Cheers again just wanted to make sure I wasn't panicking too much

Automania wrote:Hi mate thanks for the reply.

Yeah it was sold as a new factory recon 4.0 p38 engine, I've since found the company on the web that look like they did it, and they say they spin it over to check oil pressure.

Re the valve seals, the other head has the blue type ones on, so have I got two different heads?

I think there is a taper though I'm gonna check as someone else mentioned it looked like a liner had dropped though I never noticed that when I stripped it.

That's what worries me about the block, I'm pretty sure the valves have just been cleaned too as one i took out shows a bit of black on it.

Cheers again just wanted to make sure I wasn't panicking too much

Unless the picture is very misleading I cant see any taper on the liner??

To spin and# engine over to check oil pressure means either having it in a running car or having it on a stand full of oil and with the oil system fully connected and spinning it with an external power source (motor of some sort) or using the starter motor which wont make much pressure.
Does this have a crank driven oil pump??

The heads are obviously odd ones. Take a pic of the casting numbers on top of the heads. It will be ERC ???
And see if they are 10 bolt or 14 bolt heads.

If you have soot on the smaller valve seat then its been run i guess.?

Without seeing it in person its hard to tell anything for sure. But this does not look like a recon engine that was a fresh build in a workshop.

It looks like an old engine thats been decked, honed and had new rings and shells chucked in. Then finished with odd heads. Any builder worth their salt would have at least had the valve guides machined down so both heads had the blue push on seals. I only tart up engines at home and I take my heads to a machine shop to get that done so the best valve guide seals are fitted.

If they are not prepared to give you a warrenty on this engine then get your cash back and walk away.

There's the site where it says they are spun over.

I'll check the heads and liners when I get in later on.

Regarding the head in the photo are you saying that that head can't be fitted with the blue seals?

Cheers again mike.

Should probably add for legal reasons I don't know for sure this is who built it up, just it has same part number and painted silver too.

Hi
Get your money back if you can, I would not ba happy about the honeing of the bores, it looks to me as if it has been done with a glaze buster/flap wheel, and whoever has done it has tried to take out the step at the top with the thing rather than rebore, it just looks wrong! I don't think the crank has been cleaned before assembly, there are carbon deposits visible in the oil hole in the crank and the holes have not been chamfured there is still machining rag there. There are also small bits of swarf in the oil and in all the bearing shells. The crank machining is also a mess that radius should go to a flat machined area on the sides of the crank journal that step is a stress raiser and should not be there.
Best regards
Mike

Heads are hrc2479 one is 21 and the other 19.

Had a look at the liners there all level and a small chamfer of about 1mm at the top?

Cheers mike

Those shells show it's been put together by a lousy engine builder. Money back - you have no idea what else they've cocked up.

Chris.

You can fit the blue seals to any rover head. There are some push ons I believe that will fit without and valve guide machining. I prefer to machine the guides and fit the later seals though.

That advert is not very good. It says they fit new steel liners if required. And further down it says al enbgine are fitted with new steel sleeves.

Get your money back and walk away is my opinion. At least they are offering a full refund. Either because they are honourable and genuine or because its better to do a refund to keep a customer happy as you cant really publicly complain after they have given a full refund eh ??

Besides the refund have they offered a replacement engine instead??

Possibly not as they now know you will be doing an internal inspecton??

Did you get an appology when you told them about the problems ??

Liner does not look very level with the block face in the third picture and agree with the crank comments - send it back!

Toby

To be fair the place I bought it off (main dealer)have been quite helpful, no replacement as the engine is now no longer available according to them, Yeah the ads weird, it's obviously American and it's an American spec engine I've got I think, it's also been to Spain at oem point according to the box!

Hopefully ill get a refund, they've said so, I really haven't got time to take further action if they drag their heals, but guess I'll have too if it comes to that.

Then I need to find another engine then

Cheers again guys much appreciated.

if you payed via paypal on ebay then they will help get a refund should there be any problems

you could build one yourself for less then that surely ??